The FINANCIAL — Singapore’s consumer prices fell at a faster-than-expected pace in May, extending deflation for the seventh straight month, according to Nasdaq.
The consumer price index fell 0.4% year-over-year in May, compared with the median estimate for a 0.3% decline in a Dow Jones Newswires poll of five economists, and a 0.5% fall in April.
The cost of housing and utilities, which has an index weighting of 26.3%, fell 3.8% in May from a year earlier due to a 2.5% fall in accommodation costs, government data released on June 23 showed.
Transportation costs, which make up 15.8% of the index, climbed 0.9% in May, after private road-transport costs rose 1.0% from April’s 2.1% fall.
Food prices, which have a 21.7% weighting in the index, rose 1.8% year-over-year, compared with a 2.1% rise in April, the data showed.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore’s core inflation measure, which excludes the costs of accommodation and private road-transport, was reported at 0.1%, compared with 0.4% in April.
The decline in the core inflation measure reflected mainly the impact of budgetary measures on services costs, as well as softer food inflation, the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Monetary Authority of Singapore said in a joint statement.
Discussion about this post